DEKALB, Ill. -- The Western Michigan University women's basketball team makes its final Mid-American Conference trip to Northern Illinois this Wednesday.

LAST TIME OUT 
Western Michigan women's basketball started strong but couldn't keep up with the Ball State Cardinals offense in a 78-57 loss. The Broncos took an early lead in the first quarter on Saturday afternoon over the current reigning Mid-American Conference champions. WMU wasn't able to stop Ball State from overtaking the Brown and Gold in the second quarter, leading to the 78-57 final.

Sophomore guard Kailey Starks was Western Michigan's top point producer for the third game in a row, scoring 19 while adding three rebounds and two steals.Along with Starks, two other Broncos ended the game in double figures. Redshirt senior forward De'Ahna Richardson added 13 points while leading the team in rebounds with six boards. While sophomore guard Alli Harness made it to an even 10, going 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.

BALL CONTROL BALANCE
WMU kept itself in the game against Ball State on Saturday with its lowest turnover performance of the season. The Brown and Gold were well under their average turnover number of 18.3 a game, only losing the ball 12 times to the Cardinals over the weekend. Western Michigan forced 14 misplays from Ball State to take the turnover battle on the floor. The Broncos also benefited from their strong press by adding 10 points off of Cardinal turnovers. 

KEEPING IT IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Sophomore guard Kailey Starks continues to put together double figure performances to lead WMU's offense in conference play. Starks had her fifth straight double digit outing for Western Michigan against Ball State on Saturday afternoon. It was also Starks third straight game adding 15 or more points for the Brown and Gold, scoring 19 on the Cardinals along with pulling down three boards and making two steals. 

SERIES HISTORY
Western Michigan will play its final two games as conference opponents with NIU starting on Wednesday night. This week's game is the 79th meeting between the two programs as the Bronco's hold a strong 45-33 advantage in the series. The Huskies will be moving to the Horizon League for women's basketball following the 2025-26 season, making this WMU's last MAC trip to the Convocation Center. 

Last year the teams split the two meetings with each team picking up a win at the opponents arena. The most recent meeting on Feb. 15 went Northern Illinois way as the Huskies picked up the close 60-51 victory. The Brown and Gold took a point lead over NIU with six minutes left in the game, but an offensive cold stretch for almost four minutes shortly after put the game out of reach for Western Michigan. Then junior guard Alli Carlson led the Bronco with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while guard Marina Asensio had 10 points.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois under first year Head Coach Jacey Brooks is trying to find its way in a new era of the program. The Huskies currently only have one MAC win on the season against Buffalo on the road. Otherwise, NIU has had only three victories this season with the other two coming against SIUE and Chicago State in November. Northern Illinois has two double figure scorers in junior forward Nevaeh Wingate and graduate guard Nadechka Laccen with 12.5 and 11.1 points a game respectively. Wingate also leads the Huskies under the glass with 5.8 rebounds a game.